IT was scheduled to be a men's Central West Premier League Hockey top of the table clash between St Pat's and Lithgow Storm, but instead Saturday turned out to be a rest day for the fierce rivals.
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With the turf at the Lithgow complex being closed for cleaning, the round nine match between the pair has been moved to August 20.
Given next Saturday is a general competition bye for the men, it means a fortnight between games for both Storm and the Saints.
Still, St Pat's coach Niel Howard wasn't too troubled by the changed in schedule.
"Last week was a hard game in Parkes, so having this week off won't hurt them," he said.
"We're still hooking in, we're still training hard, this week coming we've got two skills sessions, one on Tuesday, one Thursday.
"I'm going to start pushing them a little bit harder coming into the finals series.
"We should be at full strength for our next game, so it will be interesting if Lithgow is full strength to see how we compare."
The alteration to the draw means the Saints will be on the road for their run into the semi-finals.
After next Saturday's general bye they will host Storm in Bathurst, then it's Parkes in Parkes, Wanderers in Orange and the rescheduled trip to Lithgow.
However, one plus of now playing Storm on August 20 means if Pat's stays on top of the competition ladder it won't cop a fortnight off prior to the grand final.
The format of the men's finals sees the minor premiers take a direct passage to the decider, while second plays third to see who will join them.
"Our last three games are away, but it doesn't worry us, we have six away games, six home games, so it's got to be done," Howard said.
"August 20, that week was a general bye, so if you finished first you would've ended up having two weeks off before the grand final which would've been a disadvantage.
"So it worked out alright for us."
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